1504 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



them the lead, this species will not bear much shade ; and if grown for economic 

 purposes it ought to be cut when twenty to thirty years old, or as soon as 

 it is fit to make a good gate-post. On any suitable soil the wood is then at its best ; 

 whereas if left to grow into larger timber, the trunk becomes deeply furrowed or 

 burry, and usually begins to decay inside at fifty to sixty years old. It would perhaps 

 make a good mixture if planted in alternate lines five feet apart with sweet chestnut 

 and cut out as soon as large enough ; leaving the chestnuts to form a clean crop 

 dense enough to suppress the stool shoots of the Robinia by its shade, and in their 

 turn to be clean felled at fifty to sixty years old. This opinion is shared by Mr. Braid, 

 forester to the Earl of Dudley, who finds Robinia a valuable tree when properly 

 treated, on dry sandy land near Kidderminster. 



Remarkable Trees 



Perhaps the finest tree in England is the one growing in front of Frogmore 

 House, near Windsor (Plate 351), which, when I measured it in 1908, was 88 ft. 

 high by 14 ft. 7 in. in girth. President Roosevelt told me in 1904 that he 

 hardly thought that such a tree could be now found in the United States. It is 

 probably over a hundred years old, as I am told by Mr. Nutt, Clerk of Works at 

 Windsor Castle, that Frogmore was bought in 1 748 by Sir E. Walpole ; and leased 

 to Queen Charlotte in 1809. Another fine tree at The Mote, Maidstone (Plate 352), 

 which I saw in 1902 measured about 80 ft. high. 



At Kew a very old tree was probably planted by Aiton about 1760. 



At Pains Hill there are some very large trees, one of which in 1904 was about 

 60 ft. high by 17 ft. 3 in. in girth; another was 70 ft. by 12^ ft. These were 

 probably planted about 1750. 



At Burwood House, Surrey, Col. Thynne in 1900 measured a tree 86 ft. by 

 13 ft. 3 in., which I have not seen. At Bowood, Wilts, I found, in 1908, a tree 

 nearly 90 ft. high by 8^ ft. in girth. At Arley Castle there is a tree 85 ft. by 9 ft. 

 in 1905 which was planted in 1820. At Stanway, Gloucestershire, there is a very 

 old tree whose top is dying, and has been taller; in 191 1 I made it 65 ft. by 

 11 ft. 10 in. At Audley End, in 1908, there was a healthy tree close to the house 

 80 ft. by 1 1 ft. 2 in. At Hatfield, Herts, there are several good trees, the largest, 

 near the conservatory, measuring, in 191 1, 67 ft. high by 12 ft. 8 in. in girth at 

 three feet from the ground. In Tree Court of Caius College, Cambridge, there is an 

 old tree about 60 ft. high, and 1 1 ft. 7 in. in girth, dividing at 10 ft. from the ground 

 into two main stems. At Kenwood, near London, a very old tree, split nearly to 

 the ground, with a decayed top, measured 45 ft. by 16 ft. in 1909. In an old gravel 

 pit at Hitchin, Herts, drawn up in a thick wood among elms, I saw in 1905 a tall 

 slender tree 80 to 90 ft. high, with a clean bole over 50 ft. high. At Holly Dale, 

 near Keston, Kent, Mr. Webster records^ tree 78 ft. by 11 ft. 7 in., containing 

 110 ft. of timber and with a spread of 54 ft. At Chilham Castle, Kent, there is a 

 fine tree, 75 to 80 ft. high and of moderate girth, on the lawn. 



1 Trans. Roy. Scot. Arb, Soc. xii. 312 (1890). 



